'It's like living in a nightmare' - Family of missing Sunderland granddad Robert Hutchinson appeal for information as they face sixth Christmas without him

Robert Hutchinson, 56, was last seen leaving his home on Corporation Road in the Hendon area of Sunderland on the evening of June 23, 2014.

He left in a blue Nissan Micra but has never been seen since and the vehicle was later found parked up at the end of Stewart Street close to Chester Road.

A murder investigation was launched following his disappearance with police believing Robert came to harm that night, but his body has never been found.

Now, as the family prepares for another Christmas without Robert, his daughter, Paula, has urged anyone with information about his disappearance to come forward and help give the family the answers they need.

Paula, 37, said: "It’s the not knowing what happened to him, it eats you up inside.

"You wake up every day thinking, 'Is this going to be the day I get some answers and find out what happened to him?'

"It’s awful. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

"It is just heartbreaking. It is like living in a nightmare.

"I am just begging anybody that knows anything to please come forward."

Last sighting

On the day he went missing, Robert was spotted on CCTV at the Asda petrol station in Grangetown at 4.48pm filling up his blue Nissan Micra with registration LT03 OZJ.

He was then seen leaving his Corporation Road home at 6.20pm that evening – which proved to be his last official sighting.

Mum Paula said: “He was a lovely man, a family man and we were all really close.

“He was especially close to my son, Josh, who was only eight at the time he went missing but he is 14 now and he still remembers it as though it was yesterday.

"But he is starting to ask questions now and I haven’t got the answers to give him.

"It's heartbreaking not being able to tell him what’s happened to him.

"It’s heartbreaking for all of us. We just need answers, we need to know what happened to him.”

Crimestoppers reward

Paula’s brother Gavin Newton, 41, and mum Pauline Robson, 60, are now facing their sixth Christmas without Robert and hope that a £10,000 reward for information from Crimestoppers will encourage people to come forward.

Paula said: "Every day is hard but Christmas, birthdays, memories, are all that bit harder.

"There is a £10,000 reward now so I am just hoping that it pricks someone’s conscience.

"Please come forward if you know anything. Please come forward with that information that we need."

Remembering the last words her dad said to her Paula said: “I had been out with my cousin and my dad came to pick me up at my cousins and drop me off at my house where I was living at the time.

"He just said he would see me the next morning because I used to drop my son off at school and then come down and have a cuppa with him on a morning. From then I never saw him again."

Police have since identified a man who matches Robert’s description walking at the rear of the Chester’s pub at 11.05pm – but the trace then goes cold.

Paula said: “I can’t understand why his car is up that way at Stewart Street, the police didn't know why it was up there and we don’t know why it was up there.

"So I think that’s part of what’s happened to him."

Police say investigation is ‘complex’

More than six years have passed since Robert’s disappearance but the police’s investigation has never been closed.

Dozens of detectives have scoured over hundreds of hours of CCTV footage to track his potential movements.

Detective Sergeant Chris Deavin, of Northumbria Police’s Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, urged people to come forward with information that could help to bring the family some closure.

He said: “The investigation has been going on now since 2014 and during that time we have made a number of arrests and searched a number of premises but unfortunately we are no closer to finding out what has happened to Robert.

"Over the last six years it has been a complex investigation involving a lot of officers and we are keen to find out what has happened to Robert and bring some closure to his family, paticularly during this time, during Christmas.

"This is something that is going to be weighing on your mind and playing on your conscience and I just appeal for anyone to come forward with any information that will help us to give some closure to Paula and the family.”

Someone knows what happened

Robert was well-known in the Hendon area and police are convinced that someone knows what happened to him.

Sergeant Deavin said: “My message to anybody out there who holds the key to this investigation is simple – please give Robert’s family the opportunity to seek that closure and not wake up every single day faced with those unbearable questions.

“We believe the answer to this investigation lies in the community and with local people. If you know what happened to Robert and have been carrying this burden around for the last six years, now is the time to take that weight off your shoulders.

“Please do the right thing, come forward and speak to us.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact 101 or ring independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

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